OCD: How it affects All Ages and Genders
Many American citizens may be familiar with the medical term Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), but do they truly know what it means and also distinguish some frequent signs and symptoms, OCD can be defined as “a type of anxiety disorder involving the repeated occurrence of obsessions and/or compulsions” (Navid, 2003, p.572). Navid (2003) goes as far as to characterize obsession as nagging, intrusive thoughts the person feels they have no control over. With reference to compulsion, a repetitive set of behaviors or routine an individual feels obligated to fulfill over and over. An example would be the feeling of germs violating the exterior of one’s body which causes them to react by constantly re- showering or vigorously washing their hands (Navid, 2003). There are endless possibilities of “rituals” that one performs under this mental disorder. To proceed further into the realm of this affliction component such as age and gender also play a role in how Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder affects the life of an individual.
Differences in Ages
Children
The psychological ailment OCD is a common disorder in children and adolescents (Lebowitz et al., 2011). Like
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Various obsessions and compulsions that lie in children, also can carry over into adulthood. Moreover, conditions tend to be more sever for adults, for instance, hoarding becomes more intense as an adult than as a child. While a child may only have a dirty, an adult’s hoarding can cause an entire household to go to shambles by not disposing uncritical materials. In addition to hoarding many factors such as emotional and physical state, social status, and lastly financial stability are all affected by OCD (Nami). In Addition, treatment options consist of adults and children both appearing in behavior therapy. In brief, OCD in children and adults have very minimum
Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (OCD) - is characterized by persistent, uncontrollable and unwanted feelings or thoughts (obsessions) and routines or rituals (compulsions) in which individuals engage to try to prevent or rid themselves of these thoughts. In example of common compulsions include washing hands or cleaning repeatedly for fear of germs.
Obsessive compulsive disorder is a psychiatric disorder, formulated of unwanted and repeated thoughts leading to extreme and obsessive behavior to avoid those thoughts. People who have OCD will never be satisfied regarding their cleanliness, always thinking they are not clean enough. Antidepressants are used as a common medication for this disorder.
In the book "The boy who couldn't stop washing" by Judith L. Rapoport, M.D., the narrator, Rapoport, deals with hundreds of mentally disturbed children and adults who suffer of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Rapoport describes the intricacies of the disease and its treatments as well as the fact that the cause is unknown but there are many probable theories. Victims of this horrible disease are plagued with overwhelming thoughts of insecurity that tear apart their lives and haunt them, increasingly, over their lifetimes. Rapoport while learning about OCD, herself, learned how to treat each one with many different psychological perspectives including: biological, behavioral, and psychodynamic contributions. A story on ABC's 20/20 about OCD brought Rapoport's new study on the disease to the light, resulting in thousands of calls to her office daily from desperate OCD sufferers.
CAMH: Centre for Addiction & Mental Health. Retrieved February 27, 2011, from http://www.camh.net/About_Addiction_Mental_Health/AMH101/top_searched_ocd.html. Foundations of Clinical Psychology (1st Custom Edition). (2011). The 'Standard' of the 'Standard Toronto, ON: Nelson Education.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disorder which causes people to develop an anxiety when certain obsessions or compulsions are not fulfilled. OCD can affect both children and adults with more than half of all adults with OCD stating that they experienced signs as a child. People living with OCD display many obvious signs such as opening and closing a door fifty times because they have to do it “just right”. Others exhibit extreme cleanliness and will wash their hands or take showers as often as they can because they constantly feel dirty. OCD devastates people’s social lives as they are fixated and obsessed with perfection that can take forever to achieve. However people living with OCD are often found to have an above average intelligence and typically excel at school due to their detail oriented mindset, cautious planning and patience. OCD can be caused by many different factors such as genetics or the ever changing world a...
Obsessive compulsive disorder is a psychological disorder with symptoms of obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions, such as cleaning, checking, and counting. OCD is linked to other disorders such as attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and experiential avoidance disorder (EA). OCD and ADHD have similar effects in children being that they both lead to procrastination when trying to complete simple tasks. People with OCD and EA both have consistent negative thoughts but the same treatments can be used for both. The neurobiological link between OCD and ADHD says “Obsessive compulsive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are two of the most common neuropsychiatric diseases in pediatric populations. Neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies suggest that partly similar executive functions are affected in both disorders” (Brem et al. 175). OCD and ADHD are very common especially in children and they both have similar effects. People with obsessive compulsive disorder put themselves through a lot more ...
For a person to be diagnosed with OCD, they need to have both an obsession and a compulsion. An obsession is best defined as recurrent and persistent thoughts, urges or images that are experienced during the disturbance as intrusive and unwanted. While compulsions are defined by: repetitive behaviours such as hand washing, ordering, checking in which the person feels they feel strongly compelled to perform in response to their obsession The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM–5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The most empirically sound method of treatment is called Exposure response prevention (Himle & Franklin, 2009). This will be the psychological method of treatment discussed.
There are several things that are included in OCD, including its symptoms, treatments and its involvement with the brain. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder recognize their symptoms to be ego-dystonic which are thoughts one would not usually have and not within one’s control but is still a product of one’s mind. The two common symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder are obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions take the form of persistent and uncontrollable thoughts, images, impulses, worries, fears or doubts. An anonymous writer wrote about his/her images, “These images included hitting, stabbing, poisoning and shooting people, even the people I loved the most…” However, compulsions are either repetitive physical behaviors or mental thought rituals that are performed over and over again to help relieve a person’s anxiety. Over time compulsions can become more elaborate and time- consuming. Shirley Brinkerhoff mentions in her book Amanda, a high school girl facing OCD, said, “Then I started having to count my steps. Like, 387 steps to the bus stop, and if missed...
Levenkron, S. (1991). Treating & Understanding Crippling Habits. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders. New York, NY: Warner Books.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder has been classified as a type of anxiety disorder under DSM-5, in which there is a presence of obsessions, compulsions or both. Obsessions are defined as “intrusive and mostly nonsensical thoughts, images, or urges that the individual tries to resist or eliminate,” while compulsion are the thought or actions that accompany these obsessions to try to suppress and provide relief. (TEXTBOOK) The obsessions are categorized into four major types, and each is linked with a certain pattern of compulsive behaviors.
Panic disorder is a psychiatric disorder in which debilitating anxiety and fear arise frequently and without reasonable cause. Panic attacks do not happen out of normal fear. Panic attacks happen without reason or warning. If you have panic disorder it could come from one of the following: family history, abnormalities of the brain, substance abuse, or major life stress(Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2016, from http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/mental-health-panic-disorder). This disorder is in the category of anxiety and depression. Panic disorder belongs to axis one, which is clinical disorders, this is the top level of the DSM multiaxial
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a disease that a lot of people suffer with in society especially young adults. While it is not a disease that is deadly, it does affect the victim in every day aspects of their life and can ultimately control their lives. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is defined by the National Institute of Mental Health as, “… a common, chronic and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over”. The thoughts that individuals have when suffering through Obsessive Compulsive Disorder cannot be restrained and really can disturb the individual. Thoughts or actions that people may have can range from worrying about daily occurrences, such as washing their hands, to having thoughts of harming people that are close to them. People tend to have these reoccurring compulsions because they believe by doing them or thinking them, they will either prevent something bad from happening or because it eliminates stress that they have. This disease can last a lifetime and can be very detrimental and disabling to how one lives their lives. Individuals can start to see signs of OCD in either late adolescence or even early adulthood and everyone is susceptible. When it comes to classifying this incurable disease, there is much debate on whether or not it a type of anxiety (Abramowitz, Taylor, & McKay, 2009). It is important to be able to understand this mental disorder since so many people are diagnosed with it. While there are treatments for OCD, there are no cures yet. Treatments could range anywhere from taking prescribed medication to just going to therapy and counseling fo...
Imagine how much trash and waste people discard in their lifetimes. Now imagine a person living in that waste they have accumulated in their lifetime stored in their own homes because of their inability to discard the useless items. This is what day-to-day life is like for a compulsive hoarder. Compulsive hoarding is a chronic behavioral syndrome that is defined by a person's extreme retention of useless items and crippling inability to discard such items. Compulsive hoarding has been traditionally recognized amongst psychiatrists and researchers in human behavior as a sub-type of obsessive-compulsive disorder due to similar symptoms hoarders have with those that suffer from OCD. However, there is substantial evidence that proves contrary. Hoarders often have several other behavioral or physical symptoms that are not typical of a person with OCD, hoarders also have genetic and physical anomalies different from OCD, and finally, most compulsive hoarders do not respond to treatments intended for OCD patients. Because of these differences, compulsive hoarding should be seen as a separate syndrome apart from OCD, so that the disorder may be categorized and studied accurately in order to pursue more effective treatments.
OCD has symptoms such as compulsive hoarding, extreme anxiety, depression, and food aversions. It currently has no sure cause but it has said to be a product of genetics or abnormalities in the brain and serotonin levels as controlling serotonin tends to help in treatment of OCD. Obsessive Compulsive disorder is seen in 2.3% of Americans. It’s more prominent in adults than in children.
...e several different theories that try to analyze the stem of this disorder. OCD can be attributed to stress, which can intensify or prompt the symptoms. Experts on this medical field also identify brain dysfunctions such as encephalitis, head trauma, or some other brain disorder as a possible cause of brain abnormalities that may result in OCD. The patient’s genetics can also have a pertinent role in the developing of the disorder experts believe that a person can inherit a tendency to develop OCD under certain conditions. An unbalanced level of brain chemicals according to serotonin theory can also be attributed to a person suffering from OCD. Lastly, learned behavior, is also a crucial factor that needs to be analyzed. If a child is taught that he/she may be predisposed to fear, he/she develop compulsions in order to reduce said fears when negative thoughts occur.